Migratory Bird Census Begins At Odisha’s Hirakud Dam

Sambalpur: The annual enumeration of migratory birds at Hirakud Dam Reservoir began on Sunday morning. The headcount of the birds began at 6 am and will continue till 5 pm.

According to sources, 30 teams will comb all the Hirakud reservoir areas under Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, and Bargarh districts from Hirakud to the Chhattisgarh border.

“We have divided the entire Hirakud reservoir into 15 sectors and each sector will be covered by at least two teams for carrying out the bird census. More than 60 enumerators, including 30 forest officials and some ornithologists are part of the exercise,” said Hirakud Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Anshu Pragyna Das.

Besides, 35 fishermen and boats are engaged in the annual exercise. All the team members have been equipped with binoculars, life jackets and other essential gadgets and articles to carry out the exercise.

Several youngsters and budding bird watchers have also been engaged in the annual bird census exercise.

Around 104 species of birds visited the Hirakud Dam, stated the report of the annual migratory bird census in 2022. A total of 2.08 lakh birds arrived at the reservoir. Out of these, there were 19 species of migratory birds.

About 80,000 more birds visited the dam in 2022 compared to 2021.